Română1. Project description
The main aim of this project is to promote European values such as the rule of law, democracy, transparency, freedom of the press, equality and solidarity among EU Member States in Eastern Europe and potential candidate countries.
In addition, the aim of the project is to encourage participants to become active citizens and to be actively involved in the democratic process at local, national and international level. We consider it important to have a dialogue with the citizens of these states on the issue of EU membership and to identify with its values. Moreover, we believe that this dialogue gives us the opportunity to identify together the challenges facing the EU and perhaps even find solutions to these problems.
The project activities will be implemented in Romania by the Expert Forum Association, with the support of local partners, in two large cities: Cluj and Constanța.
We aim to achieve these goals by organizing interactive debates with local citizens to explore certain EU-related topics, such as the use of EU funds, sustainability, the future of the EU, citizens’ attitudes towards EU membership and the values and tools of citizenship. activate.
The project will also encourage citizens to understand the EU as a community of common values and focus on facilitating the active involvement of citizens, with both proven and new formats, such as interactive tours, a photo contest and essays. and what steps would be essential in their view to address these issues, as well as an online survey on the challenges of the EU and the future of the EU.
The project will also facilitate an exchange of experience between project partners by organizing an online workshop in which partner organizations will be able to share their experience in mobilizing citizens at the local level.
The project and the results of the survey will then be disseminated through a short project guide translated into all 5 languages that will be disseminated online and presented at the closing event of the project organized by each participating country.
2. Target audience
In a broad sense, the target audience of the project is represented by the citizens of the participating states, the activities being open to all those who are interested in the subject, but we intend to focus on two specific groups:
1) young people, including students from the two cities – Cluj and Constanța
2) The citizens of the two cities – Cluj and Constanța.
The activities will take place at three levels – international, national and local. Throughout the project, we aim to use our local networks to reach as many people as possible.
3. Project activities:
1. Launch events in Cluj and Constanța that address current EU challenges and how they are reflected in local priorities:
2. Public debates on sustainability inside and outside the EU
4. Guided tours on topics of local interest in Cluj and Constanța
5. International online action – a debate on a topic relevant to all project partners and countries
6. International online workshop on EU accession and citizen mobilization, as well as the exchange of good practices
7. Public speech contest for young people
8. Online survey on the attitude of the citizens of the participating states towards the EU and European values
9. Closing event – presentation of project results and launch of the project guide
4. Timeline of activities
- Launch events
- Cluj Smart city – public debate, 25 of November 2020
- Do we know what we don’t know? How to enhance transparency of public data? public discussion with Journalism Students from Ovidius University in Constanta, 8th of April 2021
- Public debates
- Cluj in the context of the European Green Deal. Progress and challenges for public administration and citizens. Public debate online. 2nd of June 2021
- Developing a sustainable urban mobility system in Constanta and surroundign areas. 6th of August 2021
- Arhitectural and cultural treasure hunts
In June, EFOR organized architectural and cultural hunts in Cluj and Constanța. Their aim was to create an innovative framework for the citizens of the two cities to discover the architectural heritage of the city, but also the variety of cultures represented by it. Thus, they had the opportunity to find out more about the ethnic minorities who lived and live in these cities, how they influenced their development and to debate how they should be capitalized on today.
- Architectural treasure hunt in Constanța – 26th of June 2021
- Architectural treasure hunt in Cluj – 27th of June 2021
- Public speaking competition online for youth
The online public speaking competition for young people in Romania challenged them to talk about an important issue that affects them and their community. Over 20 young people from Romania gave speeches about the problems they face in their city or school, on the methodology developed by EFOR within the program Let’s talk about YOU (th) !. But they had a new challenge to address – to include the European perspective in their approach – whether they identified useful solutions and tools at EU level or tried a comparative approach (do other EU states also face this problem? EU Member States to solve this problem?
Winners of the competition:
Bianca Stoian – https://youtu.be/Cc4O9OOg_lQ
- Final event
The closing ceremony of the project took place on July 29, 2021, online with the participants in the online public speech competition and the project partners.
5. Project results
All project partners contributed to the writing of a Report presenting the implemented activities, as well as their results in all four countries.
The report can be read in full here in English:
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6. International project partners
Transparency International Hungary, Transparency International Macedonia,
Project implemented with the help of local partners:
Project funded through the Europe for Citizens Programme of the European Union
